(3) The bride proceeds to invite her visitors (as we suppose) into the interior of her apartments; and, from good manners, desires them to precede her ; which they, with equal good manners, de cline. The word meshek signifies to advance toward a place; as (Judg. iv :6), ''Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men ;" that is, go first to mount Tabor, and be followed by thine army—head thine army —precede it. (Job xxi :33), "He goeth to the grave, where he (»zeshek) precedes a great many men; and so draws them toward him; as he himself has been preceded by many who have died before him." (Job xxviii:18,) "The price, (nieshck), the precedence of wisdom—its attrac tion—is preferable to rubies." Jer. xxxi :3, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; there fore with loving kindness have I preceded thee ;" as we say, been beforehand with thee, "drawn thee toward me." Such appears to be the import of the word, which, therefore, is in this place rendered—lead the way, that is, precede me.
(4) The king's chamber. This word, though usually rendered chamber, can only mean, in gen eral, his apartments, his residence. (Dent. xxxii: 25, Marg.; Prov. xxiv :4; Jer. xxxv :2.) We have among ourselves an instance of a simi lar application of the word chamber. In Richard III. Shakespeare makes Buckingham say to the young king, "Welcome, sweet prince, to London, to your chamber;" the reason is, London, from being the usual residence of the king, was called camera regis, "the king's chamber." It might justly be rendered "rooms ;" so we have the rooms at Bath, at Margate, etc., or chambers in a palace —as the ever-memorable Star chamber, the Jeru salem chamber, the painted chamber. etc., that is, apartments. But here it evidently means the Harem, or women's apartment, the secluded cham ber into which the bride invites the ladies; and where the latter part of this eclogue passes, be ing transferred, as we suppose, from the parlor below to the Harem above; or from the parlor exterior, to the Harem interior.
(5) Treated me contemptuously, literally "snorted at me;" which, perhaps, might be ren dered by our English phrase, "turned tip their noses at me ;" but how would that read in a poem? To spurn does not correctly express the idea, as that action rather refers to a motion of the foot ; whereas, this term expresses a move• ment of a feature, or of the entire countenance.
(6) Inspectress of the fruiteries. This, we im agine. is somewhat analogous to our office of ranger of a royal park ; an office of sane dignity,
..nd of more emolument ; it is bestowed on indi viduals of noble families among ourselves; and is sometimes held by females of the most ex alted rank; as the princess Sophia of Gloucester, who was ranger of a part of Bagshot park; the princess of Wales, who was ranger of Greenwich park, etc., and the office is consistent even with royal dignity. This lady, then, was appointed ranger—governess, directress of these plantations; which appears to have been perfectly agreeable to her natural taste and disposition, although she alludes, with great modesty, to her exposure to the sun's rays, in a more southern climate, by means of this office, as an apology for a com plexion which might be thought by Jerusalem females to be somewhat tanned.
(7) Fruiteries. The word signifies not restrict ively vineyards, but places producing various kinds of plants; for we find the al-henna came from "the fruiteries of En-gedi," the plantations, not merely vineyards, of "the fountain of Gadi," or the "springs of Gadi," chap. i:t4. See No. 12, below.
(8) Beloved of my heart, strictly, beloved by my person; but as this is rather an uncouth phrase in English, the reader will excuse the substitution of one more familiar. The word is very improperly rendered soul, by our translators, throughout the Old Testament, though the usage of their time, as appears from the best writers, pleads strongly in their excuse.—"That soul shall die"—"that soul shall be cut off," read person; for in many places the actions and functions, or qualities, of the body. are attributed to it ; some times those of a living body, sometimes those of a dead body ; where we cannot suppose it means a dead soul. It may be considered as a general word, expressing a person's self; and Sir William Jones was obliged to use this term self, on more than one occasion, in translating a cognate word from the Arabic; as, for instance—'he threw his self into the water," where it would be extremely erroneous to say, "his soul," in our common ac ceptation of that term.
(9) Elegant. We observed. in considering the Ship of Tyre, that the word ipi might refer less to beauty of person than has been thought. We suppose our word handsome may answer to it, in a general sense ; and we say, not only a hand some person, but a handsome dress, handsome behavior, speech. etc. We have preferred the term elegant as implying all these ideas, and as being more usually connected with person and manners; for we rather say, a lady of elegant manners, than of handsome manners.